Benedictine College honors Brungardts with ‘2013 Family Award’
The Most Rev. John B. Brungardt, far right, is pictured with members of his family in the foreground of Benedictine College in Atchison. The family was presented the 2013 Family Award Oct. 5.
Special to the Register
Atchison -- Family Weekend at Benedictine College featured the presentation of the 2013 Family Award to the Dr. Balthasar and Mrs. Margaret Brungardt Family. Each year the college recognizes a family that has been particularly active as alumni, as legacies, and in service to the college. The Brungardts were honored with a presentation during halftime of the Benedictine football game versus Graceland University on Saturday, Oct. 5. Paul (St. Benedict’s College class of 1965) and Marg (Mount St. Scholastica Class of 1966) Brungardt accepted the award on behalf of the entire family. Paul was part of the second generation to attend the college and was the “senior” member present for the honor.
30 years in the making
Vietnamese celebrate three decades of Catholic presence
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
GARDEN CITY – It was a celebration 30 years in the making for Vietnamese Catholics, who gathered Oct. 27 at St. Dominic Church to recognize three decades since the founding of the Vietnamese Catholic community in Garden City.
At a Mass preceding a dinner reception, women in colorful native garb, their husbands, children or grandchildren beside them, listened as Bishop John Brungardt bid them congratulations on their anniversary and thanked them for their contributions and faith-filled service to the Church of Southwest Kansas.
The Four Pillars of Stewardship: Prayer
‘Soldiers for Christ’
The rosary: a tool of conversion (see the SPANISH below)
The “Soldiers for Christ” rosary group includes, back row: Jose Franco, Oscar Heredia, Aurelio Barron and Hilario Ochoa. Middle row: Osvaldo Mendez, Saul Hernandez, Oscar Franco and Amado Medina. Front row: Alfredo Alvarado, Pedro Sanchez, Father Peter Fernandez, Hector Porras and Joel Guaderrama. Not Pictured are Carlos Garcia, Jose Ibarra, Manuel Melendez, Trinidad Hernandez, and Pedro Galindo.
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
Editor’s Note: This week the Register continues coverage leading to the November 17 “Stewardship Renewal Commitment Sunday” by highlighting one of the four Pillars of Stewardship: “Prayer”. The last issue of the Register highlighted “Formation.”
Each Thursday evening, several men gather in the soft light of Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Ulysses.
In their hands they each hold a rosary.
Together, they pray their admonitions to the Lord, a prayer for conversion – of families, of communities; they pray the repeated words of the rosary as God removes that outer layer of their daily lives until the world subsides and they can feel God’s presence with utter clarity.
Father Peter Fernandez started the rosary group for men, “Soldados de Cristo (Solders of Christ)” at Mary Queen of Peace Parish in March following a parish mission in which was stressed the struggle of the family in today’s society -- a society entrenched with often unhealthy distractions.
Wedding Anniversary Mass
Bishop urges couples to pray aloud together
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
(PHOTOS) Bishop John B. Brungardt urged couples who were gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City Oct. 20 to “pray together daily, pouring out your thoughts and feelings to the Lord”.
Dozens of couples from across southwest Kansas converged on the cathedral on the plains for the annual Wedding Anniversary Mass, which was followed by a dinner reception.
“We thank you, God,” the bishop said, “for your presence in these marriages. Please help them to grow ever closer to you and to each other throughout this life so they may rejoice in your love eternally.”
The couples grasped hands and renewed their love and commitment to each other: “Today, I renew my commitment to you,” they said to one another. “I promise to love you and honor you all the days of my life.”
Diocese mourns Irish missionary
By TIM WENZL
Diocesan Archivist
Father Eugene P. Kenny, a retired priest of the Diocese of Dodge City, died October 12, 2013, in Wichita. He was 84 years old. He had been a resident of the Priests Retirement Center there since 2002.
Father Kenny was ordained to the priesthood 60 years ago and was remembered with other jubilarians at the Chrism Mass earlier this year, although he was unable to attend.
Bishop John B. Brungardt presided at the Mass of Christian Burial at St. Elizabeth Chapel at the Catholic Care Center in Wichita on Oct. 18. Concelebrants included: Bishops Emeriti Eugene J. Gerber and Ronald M. Gilmore; Father Robert Schremmer, V.G., Msgr. Brian Moore, Fathers John Maes, Lisle Pottorff, Ultan Murphy, Don Bedore, Matthew Kumi, John Forkouh, Anthony Suellentrop, Rene Guesnier, O.S.B., and priests from the Diocese of Wichita. Burial followed at Ascension Cemetery east of the Spiritual Life Center in Bel Aire.
Students raise money to attend NCYC
(PHOTOS) Young people from St. John the Baptist Parish in Spearville were among dozens from across the diocese working to raise money for their trip to the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indiana Nov. 21-24.
The Spearville youth, with the help of adult volunteers, hosted a dinner at the parish center where they helped cook and serve a delicious dinner.
The Four Pillars of Stewardship: Service
Catholic Social Service
Adoption Services • Pregnancy Counseling • Teen Mom’s Program •
Addiction Counseling • Economic Assistance • Disaster Response •
Marriage and Relationship Education • Food Assistance • Medical Assistance ...
By REGISTER and CSS STAFF
If you’ve never had to seek the assistance of Catholic Social Service of the Diocese of Dodge City, you might count yourself lucky.
Throughout its history, staff members of Catholic Social Service have been the workhorses behind dozens of programs designed to lend aid to those most in need.
For more than 60 years, CSS has worked in the areas of adoption, childcare, housing, troubled youth, alcoholism, education, refugee services, children and spousal abuse and prevention, emergency assistance, pregnancy counseling, aging, foster and respite care for children with disabilities, search and reunion services for adult adoptees, birth parents and their families, family counseling, addictions and recovery (in addition to alcoholism), Teen Moms, disaster response, marriage preparation and education, Marriage for Keeps (marriage support), infant adoption awareness training (training health professionals), and post abortion counseling (Rachel’s Vineyard).
The Four Pillars of Stewardship: Service
Liberal resident brings Sunday Gospel, homily, to shut-ins
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
LIBERAL -- For Don Smith, helping the shut-ins of St. Anthony Parish begins with the press of a little red button.
The button is attached to a $65 digital audio recorder that Smith sets atop the pulpit prior to each Sunday’s Mass. It’s there that Father James Dieker, one of the deacons, or a visiting priest presses the little red “record” button before the Gospel reading.
That’s when Smith goes to work.
Using an audio editing program on his computer, the retired electronics technician edits the Gospel reading and homily into one fluid format, and then uploads the audio file onto the parish website and Facebook page. The file can then be accessed by anyone with an internet connection. In the case of elderly shut-ins, it may mean having a visiting friend or family member present the recording via their Smart Phone, I-Pad, Kindle, or a host of other devices.
Coalition for Justice for Immigrants
Ridding the world of ignorance, one story at a time
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
Elva Dominguez had had enough.
She was in high school at the time, and was fed up with being pulled out of class to help new students who could only speak Spanish. The particular student she was asked to help this time needed to know where her locker was located; where her classes were.
“I was sick of it!” Dominguez told a crowd gathered at the Dodge City Public Library Oct. 8 to discuss immigration issues. “I told her, ‘I’m not going to answer any more of your questions.’ I told her she had to learn English.”
The girl never spoke to Dominguez again, well, not for some time, anyway.
“A few years later I had to go into a bank and ask for a loan. Guess who the loan officer was? She said, ‘Do you remember me?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ She said, ‘You made me so angry -- so angry that I went and learned English.’
“I guess she wasn’t too angry with me; I got my loan!”
The Four Pillars of Stewardship: Service
A parish opens its hearts, wallets to serve others
(PHOTOS) On a cool September morning, members of St. John the Baptist Parish in Spearville were busy lifting dozens of heavy boxes filled with food items.
A few cars zoomed by along First Street in Dodge City as the volunteers loaded the boxes from trucks onto dollies. They then rolled the stacks of boxes up a long sidewalk, and carried them one by one down a set of cement stairs into a basement storage room.
They were bringing the donated food into Manna House, a facility in Dodge City that not only serves food to anyone in need, but also provides shelter for the night, and even clothes.